Where We Live: Loan Modification Leaving Many In The Lurch
Mortgage modifications are letting homeowners down
Every month, the treasury department releases new numbers about how homeowners in its mortgage modification program are faring… and every month the numbers are bleak.
The Treasury department program was meant to help homeowners avoid foreclosure – but a report by ProPublica says its falling far short of its goals.
Even getting into a “trial” program – to see if you qualify for a loan modification – is a runaround. But then, it can get worse once you’re accepted.
More than half-a-million homeowners have been strung along in the “trial” period – as their mortgage servicer determined if they qualifed for a permanent modification - but then eventually they’ve been denied.
ProPublica’s report also shows that mortgage servicers regularly make errors and break the rules of the government’s mortgage modification program, that’s according to interviews with hundreds of homeowners.
Coming up, we’ll hear from Connecticut homeowners, and a staff attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center about the federal government’s loan modification program – which bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren says is “behind the curve.”
Send to friend
Printer-friendly version
Fifteen months into this program, for every one family that appears to have made it to a permanent modification that’s likely to stabilize that family in that home, 10 more have been moved out through foreclosure. This is a program that’s just — it’s behind the curve.
Comments
I was the designated loser in
I was the designated loser in my divorce, denied automatic temporary orders so NO
temporary Alimony or child support for three years while the lawyers and Judges
engaged in a custody battle that our 16 yr old, ex and myself had NO desire or wishes
for. Per state statutes, 16 and 17 year olds can live with friends if they so choose, didn't
matter to family court.
I was awarded the marital home already in foreclosure and another rental property under
water which the court claimed was not denying my evidence and testimony as not credible.
I lost the marital home to foreclosure and my son and I were evicted on 02.05.10, we
moved into the rental property damaged in the flood in March 2010 and we were displaced.
I received no back alimony per the Judgment and was not able to appeal, request denied by
the Judge. I filed anyway but since I could not get the file from Judges chambers, held for
six months, before, during and after trial my appeal was not effective.
I was awarded a QDRO with funds to pay the mortgage on this rental property and pay the
repairs needed for my son and I to live in but I keep getting the trappings of law and governance
in the family court system preventing me from getting the QDRO documents signed and submitted
to the Plan Administrators. The latest excuse is I submitted COPIES and this is not acceptable.
The QDRO attorney claims she sent originals. I am now trying to get her to send them to me
so I go back to court and get them signed by my ex. Her name is Elizabeth McMahon. I
have paid ALL her fees as my ex refused to...the court found him NOT to be in contempt for
not paying and for stalling for a year as this it is 'typical' for this process to take a year. ????
Knowing that my son and I were made destitute, we cannot get public assistance because
on paper I own too many assets. My name is still on all the deeds and LLCs that were awarded
to ex..over $800K in assets, he makes six figures plus bonuses plus $5000/month +- rental income.
My poor son;'s car, savings account, college fund and inheritance was taken from him. He was
able to get scholarships and Federal Financial Aid to attend college. I filed a complaint with the
Federal authorities as it should NOT be the taxpayer's responsibility to pay for his college education
or our support if we could qualify. The court is working to prevent me from getting social services.
I have severe hypertension and cannot pay for my healthcare needs.
Please get my story out. My son and I need help.
This show is excellent. Thank
This show is excellent. Thank you for shedding some light on this process!
I've found that with Wachovia that the "Loan Councilors" are "Collection Agents" who's primary goal is to get you to commit to paying some money and have little understanding of the loan modification process. Once in the Modification area the people I dealt with where knowledgeable about the process. I also decided to call the President's office and found that they have some very good people who can explain the big picture and seem to get results ALTHOUGH THEY OFTEN CAN NOT LEAVE A TRAIL in the system so that the collections division is aware that you are in conversations with that office. Furthermore, the collections group can misrepresent what is said or agreed to and I found that I had to call back and speak with someone different to see what the previous person actually recorded into the system. They also will claim that they are leaving messages when in fact the don't and hang up when they hear a voice mail -- leaving the impression that they are calling you but you are not responding to their requests.
I put my name and loan number on every sheet I faxed and mailed and sent a duplicate copy to the VP who sent my foreclosure letter and had no problems with them loosing paperwork...but I was not approved for a modification...
Finally, be careful of using Urban League of Southern Connecticut. Their councilors dropped the ball a number of times...I finally went direct to the lender...but I was hoping on working with a third party to help me evaluate my options.
I think that the loan
I think that the loan modification program is a farce, I think that it was just implented so that the government can say "look we are helping the American people", when in all reality the program is stacked against struggling Americans. At one point in time I was directed by a foreclosure counselor to call the H.U.D. Hope for Homeowners line, where I was advised that the best thing I should is do a short sale and move my family into low income subsidized housing. I orginally thought it hard to believe that Obama's plan for the working class was to move to low income housing, but as I continue to tell my story and hear stories from other families. I can honestly say that I don't think that the banks and the government care what happens to us, as long as they can continue to lose money. And as the situation continues to deteriorate the government will continue to implement half thought out pans and programs to give the perception that they are trying to help.
Listener Email from Clif
The HAMP and internal mortgage modification programs are a joke. The current status of loan modification programs is a relegated to a game of poker with banks, stop paying your mortgage in order to get the bank to listen to you, hope that they offer a modification, and spend the next 6-12 months sending paperwork back and forth in hopes of getting someone who is willing to work on you loan.
I have been through 3 failed loan modifications, soon to be likely a fourth. Across 2 years of mailing documents back and forth to banks (lost, misplaced, or no one to contact) the only thing I have found that the banks are acceptable to is a short-sale of properties to new buyers. The advice to "keep working with your lender" is a total lie. I have called to banks on a weekly basis, emailed contact persons, and attended to classes and foreclosure seminars (which was the only way that I could actually find out who to contact within the banks) and still been left with zero return calls or response beyond the standard threatening responses that banks send that you will lose your home if no payment is made. In only one situation was a loan modification offered, through IndyMac bank shortly after taken over the government.
Currently I have been working with my lender for 10 months on my primary residence in order to find out if I could get a loan modification. The problem inevitably comes down to the fact that using 40% gross income calculations are completely out of touch with the fact that many of the "good owners" out there have already leveraged out their credit cards and gone far into the red in order to keep making payments, meaning that the gross income calculations are wildly out of touch with actual homeowner affordability.
Until we have a means of forcing banks to actual be invested in local communities again (return to smaller banks?) or a better means of analyzing a homeowner's financial status we are going to keep seeing more and more foreclosures, lost homes, and decaying communities.
We need a better way.
Post new comment